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Police search for suspects after man burnt alive in Bernard Lodge

Shane Smith, the brother of Patrick Smith who was killed in Clifton, St. Catherine last week, was speaking with reporter Kirk Wright
By Clinton McGregor    
 
The St. Catherine South Police have launched a search for the suspects who attacked and set a man on fire along the Bernard Lodge main road last week.
 
The victim, Patrick Smith, a resident old Old Braeton in Portmore, St. Catherine, was reportedly burnt alive by his attackers.
 
Radio Jamaica News was informed that sometime after 11 a.m. Friday, Mr. Smith was reportedly preaching on a Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus when he was asked to exit the vehicle along the Bernard Lodge main road.
 
Shortly after the Greater Portmore Police responded to reports of a man on fire near the entrance to the Clifton community.
 
On the arrival of the cops, the burnt remains of a human body was seen laying on its back with remnants of tires and wood surrounding it.
 
A fire unit from the Waterford Fire Station was called to the scene to carry out cooling down operations.
 
Investigators are probing reports that Mr. Smith was beaten and then set ablaze by unknown assailants.
 
A senior investigator told Radio Jamaica News that they are trying to identify the perpetrators of the violent act.
 
They are also trying to make contact with the JUTC driver and passengers who they say can assist them in the investigation.
 
In 2012, the Jamaica Urban Transit Company imposed a ban on preaching inside its buses.  
 
The ban was imposed following public complaints about the behaviour of  preachers on buses.
 
The complaint was that persons were being harassed by the preachers. 
 
Family in shock 
 
In the meantime, the family of Mr. Smith has said it is shocked and horrified at the manner in which he was killed.
 
His brother, Shane Smith, told Radio Jamaica News that the family is in disbelief and wants the police to find those responsible.
 
"I feel really bad. Every night mi cry.... Fi know seh mi go in a evening time and mi no see him, it just really bad, sir," the brother bemoaned as he spoke with reporter Kirk Wright. 
 
"Weh mi bredda do dem why dem kill him like dat? Weh mi bredda do dem? Is a real man ah God. Mi bredda nuh deserve dat type a death," insisted the distraught man.  
 


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